Welcome to BumaStemra
Why is it so great that you joined us?
From now on, you belong to a club of over 40,000 fellow composers, lyricists and music publishers. And that’s important. Because together we are stronger in negotiations for fair remuneration!
Being a member of BumaStemra not only means that we collect and pay you for the use of your music. You are very welcome to contact us with all your questions about copyright. In addition, we are happy to give you practical information. You can read more about that below. But first, what do your fellow music makers think of BumaStemra?
You are a member. And now what?
Making lots of great music, of course! But also…..
Apart from the creative side, there are also business aspects to making music. For BumaStemra, this is the, with a fancy word, copyright side. Through your membership of BumaStemra, you have transferred the exploitation rights of your music to us. That means as much as; you make music, we collect for its use and pay out to you. And that means we are going to work together. We explain it in a few steps below.
1. Register music, upload sound file
Have you created new music? Then it is important to register it as soon as possible. You can do this in MijnBumaStemra, your online self-service portal. You can immediately upload the sound files of your new work. If you register your music, we can match it with music that has been used. And so we know what to pay you.
2. Submitting set lists
Have you performed your music live? Or do you know that someone else has used your music in a performance? Then submit a setlist. You can do that via Live in MijnBumaStemra. We have included practical features such as copying your previous setlists, which will save you work next time.
Submitting setlists is important! Because if we know in which live performances your music has been used, we can pay you.
Where does your money come from?
We conclude licences with parties that use music. These include radio and television stations, online platforms such as YouTube and Spotify, but also, for example, event venues.
We made an interesting longread, From Play to Pay, for the process of music on online platforms through to its payment.
Payment for use of your music
The money we collect from music users, net of fees, goes to the creators whose music has been used. We pay out this money 4 times a year, in March, June, September and December.
Annual Allowance
So you receive money when your music has been used and you have registered your music with us. But what if your music was hardly used or not used at all? Or we don’t know it was yours? Then you will receive an annual allowance from us once a year up to a maximum of € 70. It works like this: everything you earned less than €70, we supplement up to that €70. For publishers, that’s €140.
Annual statement
In January, you will receive an annual statement from us. This is because payments for the use of your music are considered income. That is why you need the annual statement for your income tax return.
We also send your annual statement to the tax authorities. That is a legal obligation.
MijnBumaStemra
From now on, you have access to your own environment in the online self-service portal MijnBumaStemra. Here you can register your works 24/7, change your data, view statements of your music and much more.
Events
Because of your membership, you regularly get discounts at a number of events sponsored by us and Buma Cultuur. Always keep an eye on the newsletter for these.